Monday, January 14, 2013

Teen unintentionally shoots and kills himself trying to show friends how to safely use a gun

18-year-old Alex Shaw, of St. Petersburg, Florida, was sitting with friends on the back patio of his grandparent's home. He was showing off a .38-caliber revolver he had bought for protection.
According to police, Alex told his friends "that he carried the gun in such a manner as to keep one round out of the firing chamber to prevent an accidental discharge." He told them to fire the gun to see, but none of them wanted to, so he held the gun against his head and pulled the trigger.
Alex was shot in the head and was pronounced dead at the scene.
"It's very heart-wrenching to realize what this family has gone through and now they have this latest tragedy to deal with," said the police spokesperson.
In June, Alex's mother died of cancer. Just eight days later, armed suspects broke into the Shaw's home and Alex's father was shot to death while confronting the masked gunmen. It was after his father's death that Alex began to carry a gun for protection.

Ohh Shoot highlights unintentional shootings. Some might refer to these as accidental shootings, but accident is too often interpreted as unavoidable. The shootings on this blog did not have to happen. Safe storage, better gun design, gun safety training are just some of the measures that could have prevented these tragedies.